Marty and Myles arrived in Bali with no hiccups and they were immediately thrown into the mix. The very next day of their arrival, we jumped on our scooters and headed off to surf. With my adventuring the last month, I was able to show the guys the spots I had found and we would tackle different surf breaks depending on what the swell was doing. We would surf once or twice a day and hit up my favorite local eats or night-market for some surfing fuel.

For the month of January, it rained just about every day; usually at night or in the late afternoon. Once the guys showed up though, the rain basically stopped. We only had a few days of rain, and not as intense as I had experienced in January. The weather was hot and humid, as expected, with little relief from a solid rain squall. I had done plenty of research on Bali and the wet-season (off-season) for surfing before my arrival. From what I had read I was expecting a handful of days where theswell would be massive and most “swell magnet” breaks would be too big and all the other breaks would be lighting up. I didn't get exactly what I expected and was forced to surf the “swell magnet” places more than I would have liked. A giant swell never passed through Bali during my two months here, so we didn't get to see a lot of the breaks light up that need big swell to work. Locals told me it was a funky season this year, just look at the crazy weather in nearby Australia. That being said, I'm not complaining because we still surfed chest to overhead waves nearly everyday. We had a few epic days, especially at Keramas, but no barrel machine where we got many chances to get a good tube. We surfed 10 different surf breaks and looked at about another 6 breaks that never were really working. We didn't paddle out 3 days out of the 3 weeks the guys were here. In one of those days, we drove out to Ubud for the day, saw some of the inner island, and ended the day with a sunset at Tannah Lot Temple.

I am thankful that we all made it out of Bali with no injuries from surfing the reefs and from riding the scooters. I did have one situation where I was able to pay a ticket “on the spot” instead of going through the court system for my expired Indo drivers license. I personally saw a few people skid out on their scooters, a couple of people get hit by cars, a couple of tipped over work trucks, a cow get clobbered by a truck (the cow was ok), and plenty of tourists limping around with bandages from riding accidents. However, my surf board did not make it out of Bali without getting beat up badly. I put 3 dings in it that still need repair, grinded the fins on a reef, ripped out my camera mount plug, snapped the tip off, and buckled / cracked the board across the entire middle. I was still able to sell it for about $80 when I was done with it.

It was great having friends to surf with. I don't know if I would have been able to handle Bali alone for another month without some friends to share it with. They showed up with some fine California brewed IPA's (Stone and Greenflash) so how could I not be happy to see them?? Bali was an amazing time and I'm sure I'll be back yet again sometime in the future. If any of my friends out there are looking for advise when to come here, I would advise right before or after the main surfing season (June – August) . So probably around May or September. That way, you hopefully get the legendary swells and less of a crowd. I've been in the same place now for two months and it was beginning to feel like a new home. I know all the good local spots, say hello to some familiar faces, and can get around the island with no problems. I can already tell I'm going to be miss Bali and the life I've lived here, but I'm excited to see some new places in the world. For my next stop, I'm headed to a land down under!